Mariska Hargitay Crosses Over to New Law & Order: Los Angeles

"I got to work with them yesterday," Hargitay told me at the Emmys. "They have an incredible cast…I think it's going to be strong right out of the gate."

Her hunky costar Christopher Meloni hasn't crossed over from SVU to the West Coast…yet. "I hope to," he said. "I always like a free trip out to L.A. The mother ship did the same thing with us when we were starting out to give us a little lift. That's all we really needed, a little push."

Hargitay says her guest storyline is inspired by her own victims advocacy work. "We are doing the show about the backlog of untested rape kits" she said. "It's something people don't know about. After a woman's been raped and goes through a four- to six-hour very traumatizing and invasive procedure you would expect it gets tested.

"But often times, most of the times, they sit on a shelf in a police facility," she continued. "It's something my foundation is trying to change, to eradicate the backlog."